Hong Kong arts funding body pulls grants for 2 projects over concerns they may have violated national security law
- Hong Kong Arts Development Council withdraws HK$1 million in funding and updates its terms for schemes
- Culture bureau also reveals that review of all public library books has been completed and offending titles removed but refuses to name them
The Hong Kong Arts Development Council has also updated the terms for its funding schemes, saying it has the right to suspend, adjust or stop grants for projects that advocated Hong Kong independence or overthrowing the government.
“The [council] decisively terminated two projects under its project grant and year grant respectively that were suspected to have violated certain regulations or laws. The total amount of grants involved HK$1 million,” the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau wrote in a reply to lawmakers’ questions on Friday.
Hong Kong lawmaker queries using government cash for national security education
“[The council] issued a letter to its grantees in January 2021, reminding them they must comply with all laws and regulations in force in Hong Kong, including [the national security law].”
The bureau added the council had also asked all grant recipients to attend workshops presented by legal professionals to better understand the national security law, as well as ones covering copyright and employment.
The bureau did not provide any details about the arts projects, but the council in July 2021 confirmed it had withdrawn a grant of more than HK$700,000 (US$90,000) to Ying E Chi Cinema, the distributor of the documentary Inside the Red Brick Wall.
In March 2021, pro-Beijing newspaper Ta Kung Pao accused the council of being led by “anti-government figures” who had granted about HK$15 million to filmmakers sympathetic to the protest movement over the past three years. The newspaper claimed the documentary violated the national security law.
Distributor of protests film loses funding over claim movie ‘beautifies riots’
The culture bureau said public libraries had received 1,120 complaints in the past three years that the contents of some books might have breached the national security law, adding most were repeated cases and had been filed by the same people.
It also said public libraries had completed a preliminary review of their book collections which amounted to more than 2 million publications in total.
“In accordance with the criteria established based on legal advice, it has arranged for the disposal of books whose contents are suspected of violating the national security law or related laws, or are not conducive to national security, to ensure that such materials are not included in the collection,” it said.
Organiser dismisses suggestions of censorship at Hong Kong Book Fair
But the bureau refused to disclose which books had been taken off the shelves, saying it could “cause certain individuals, organisations or the media to widely publish or disseminate the books” which could be “detrimental to national security”.
Centrist lawmaker Tik Chi-yuen said it was “strange” to not reveal which books were removed and he disagreed that doing so would lead to the content being shared widely.
“The public and the publisher should know the criteria for removing the books. If the government quietly removes the books without telling anyone, the public will not know about the criteria behind the decision and how the line is drawn,” he said.
“Having a clear criteria can prevent future violation of such laws.”
Hong Kong to mark National Security Education Day with activities across city
Legislator Dominic Lee Tsz-king, of the New People’s Party, said public libraries should be transparent about their actions and disclose which books were removed.
“We have received complaints from some parents who wished to remove some books. These parents also would like to know if the books that they complained about were removed,” he said.
“If there are books promoting inappropriate values, society should know that [the government] disapproves of these kinds of messages, so people will understand they should avoid creating such content.”
